The Doctor is a long lived alien from the planet Gallifrey. He’s a Time Lord and travels through time thanks to his aging time capsule the Tardis. David Tennant is the tenth Doctor. My favorite has always been Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. The Doctor periodically regenerates. When he does so, he changes outward appearance which let the producers change actors easily. All Time Lords regenerate 13 times. The Doctor’s nemesis is the Master, a renegade Time Lord who found a way around this limit. Other enemies includethe Black Guardian, the Daleks and the Cybermen.

The Doctor and Donna Noble find themselves in 79 AD. They are in Pompeii. Some factions have been waiting for the appearance of the Doctor for ages. The Doctor doesn’t realize that all of the oracles and truthsayers of this era in Pompeii are actually foretelling the future. They have become prescient.

The Doctor and Donna realize that an alien species has been seeding them through the Vesuvius. The Doctor has a hard choice to make in order to save Earth from the aliens.

The oracles of Pompeii tell the Doctor that “she will be back”. Once again, there is a reference to Rose Tyler in this episode. Rose Tyler was actually seen at the end of the first episode of this season. Rose was the new Doctor’s first companion back in 2005. She stayed for two seasons before being sucked into another universe.

There, she finds herself trapped on the parallel Earth albeit reunited with Jackie, Mickey and the alternate Pete Tyler. Later, the Doctor manages to project his image through the last crack between the universes, sharing a tearful farewell with her. He informs Rose that she is presumed dead in the aftermath of the invasion, thus verifying Rose’s soliloquy at the start of the episode “This is the story of how I died”. Rose in turn mentions working with that parallel Earth’s (non secret) version of the Torchwood Institute due to her experience with aliens. Finally, Rose tells him she loves him, even though they denied it many times during the course of their time together. The Doctor begins to reply, getting as far as “If it’s my last chance to say it…Rose Tyler–” before the connection fails.

Rose is back for three episodes this season. Martha Jones will also make a multi episode appearance.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

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The Doctor and Donna arrive in ancient Rome. Unknown to him, his arrival was noticed by someone. They realise that they are in Pompeii.

The acolyte dressed in red wants to tell the high priestess of Sibylline the blue box. The Doctor and Donna run back to the Tardis when they notice that they are in Pompeii. They find the Tardis is gone. It’s been sold by a merchant to Caecilius, who believes that it’s modern art.

They are a up and coming family. His daughter Evelina is being prepared to become a seer. They await the arrival of the augur Dextrus. Evelina is inhaling volcanic fumes. Underneath the city, strange volcanic creatures are congregating.

The Doctor tells Donna that they can’t do anything to save Pompeii.

The sisterhood continues to spy on the Doctor. They find a reference to the blue box. The high priestess awakes. She tells the sisters to be wary of the Doctor and to stop him.

Donna and the Doctor arrive at Caecilius’ place. They pose as marble inspectors. They find the Tardis. Donna wants to warn them away. The Doctor tries to stop her. Dextrus arrives. The Doctor is about to leave when they see the piece of marble that Dextrus had ordered from Caecilius. It looks like a circuit board. Evelina arrives and tells everyone that the Doctor and Donna are mocking them.

Dextrus is threatened by Evelina. Quintus, her brother, tells his mother that she looks deathly sick. She does look a bit pale and has trouble walking. Evelina knows the Doctor’s and Noble’s names. Dextrus is not about to be out-augured. He tells the Doctor that he comes from Gallifrey and that Noble comes from London. Dextrus tells the Doctor that she is returning.

Evalina tells him that even his name the Doctor is false. His true name is hidden. He is a lord of time. Dextrus says that all oracles of Pompeii tell the truth.

Evelina’s arm is turning into stone.

There are some strange noises coming from the furnaces. After an earthquake 17 years ago, the augurs started telling the truth about the future. All prediction came true. All of the soothsayers are consuming the vapours. They are consuming Vesuvius.

The Doctor pays a visit to Dextrus’ home. He finds other circuit boards. Dextrus arrives with his guards. None of the seers see anything about tomorrow. While Noble is telling Evelina about the eruption, she transmits this to the other sisters of the Sibylline. The high priestess wants Noble dead.

The Doctor realises that the circuit boards form an energy converter. Dextrus is about to kill them, but the Doctor takes his arm off. It’s been turned into stone. Dextrus says that it’s the work of the gods. The Doctor and Quintus get away. Dextrus invokes the gods to stop the Doctor. The fire creatures step out of the underworld.

The creature breaks into the world through the furnace entry point at Caecilius’ home. The sisters kidnap Noble. The Doctor is able to stop the creature by having Quintus throw water at the creature. It solidifies and falls to pieces.

Donna is about to be sacrificed. The Doctor arrives and saves her. The high priestess wants to see them. She’s been almost turned into stone. All of them have. They have been seeded by some alien creatures. The Doctor is able to lure the creature into talking with him. It’s a Pyrovile. The Doctor holds the Pyrovile off with a water pistol. They escape through the furnace. The Pyrovile revealed that they crashed on Earth thousands of years ago. Most of them were turned into dust. The earthquake 17 years ago awoke them from their long slumber. They started seeding the seers. Their minds were so deep.

Doctor tells Donna that some things are fixed, some things are in flux. It’s his burden as the last timelord. They go into the volcano. They see their craft.

Dextrus brings the circuit boards to his gods on Vesuvius.

Dextrus tells the Doctor that they have escaped from Pyrovilia, which didn’t have enough heat anymore. They enter into the craft and seal it. The Doctor finds the circuit board. They are trying to harness the energy of the volcano to take over the world. The Doctor has to make a choice. Destroy Pompeii with the force of 24 nuclear bombs, or let them take over the Earth.

The Doctor realizes that he’s the one responsible for the deaths of 20000 people in Pompeii. The Doctor and Donna make it out of the volcano thanks to the craft. The people of Pompeii are freaking out.

The seers see the future changing. The Doctor and Donna head back to the Tardis. He gets into the Tardis and plans to leave. Donna can’t believe it. The Doctor says that he can never go back to his own planet. He can’t save anyone from Gallifrey. Donna wants him to save someone.

The Doctor rematerializes the Tardis and saves the Caecilius family. The Doctor and the family watch as Pompeii is destroyed by the volcano. He tells Evelina that her visions were caused by a rift in time, akin to the Cardiff rift of Torchwood. They won’t return. He tells Caecilius that in the future, Pompeii will be found again and people will remember them. Caecilius coins the word volcano for the first time from Vulcan, the god of the forge.

The Doctor tells Donna that she was right. Sometimes he does need someone. He says welcome aboard.

Caecilius is in Rome six months later. Quintus is studying to become a doctor. He thanks the new household gods. It’s the Doctor and Donna. The temple is the Tardis.